Summer Scouting

Late summer is a great time to take inventory of the local buck population

By Bill Winke

      As a young bowhunter, I couldn’t wait until the November rut. Not only did I love the idea of possibly shooting a big deer with my bow, but I really wanted the adrenaline rush that comes from just seeing a monster from my stand. I still go into each season with that same goal. I just want to see something that makes my jaw drop, and if I should somehow get a shot at the deer, that would just be icing on the cake. It has been my singular goal for thirteen Novembers. In eleven of the following Januaries, I’ve looked back on my season with a twinge of disappointment. Most years I never see a whopper. Let’s face it; mature bucks are just hard to see during the hunting season.

      On the other hand, I’ve seen many dozens of mature bucks during the summer. They are not nearly as hard to find during the summer. I find them hanging around high protein food sources, visibly gorging in an effort to support rapid body and antler growth. They seem to taunt me at these times, as if to say, “We are here, yet you will never see us when it really counts.”

      The differences between summer patterns/summer ranges and fall patterns/fall ranges have confounded me many times, but never more than last year. Throughout July, I watched two great bucks near one of my hunting areas. They had distinctive antlers. One had a big drop-tine off his G-2 and the other was wide. I recognized them the instant I saw them. In ten trips to the area, I saw the drop-tine buck a half-dozen times and the wide one three times.

      Needless to say, I went into last season with more anticipation than I had felt in many years. I was just sure I would see one or both of these impressive deer, and I even had the audacity to hope that I might arrow one of them. Who was I kidding? Didn’t history teach me anything? I must have temporarily forgotten that old bucks (both were five to six years old) don’t live that long by being visible during the fall. OK, I’m being a bit sarcastic here, but it is not far removed from reality.

      I hunted hard, and as carefully as possible, for most of November, all that time in the same area where I had seen the two bucks. The area contained three food plots that I was sure would draw them to my bow eventually. I never saw either one, but I kept a positive mindset – I still had hunting to do. I was certain one of them would show up on the food during the late season. So I hunted nearly every evening of the late season, too. I saw many young bucks and a couple of middle-aged shooters (out of range), yet I never caught even the remotest glimpse of one of those two old bucks.

      Then, a month later, I found out why. I was talking to a fellow that bowhunts a piece of ground three miles from my area. He identified the drop-tine buck to a tee. There is no doubt it was the same deer. He told me blow-by-blow how the buck had given him the slip three times in November. Great stories, but they were supposed to have been mine. The bowhunter never saw the buck closer than three miles from where I had watched him all summer. No one that I spoke with reported seeing the wide buck; he simply vanished after July.

      My experience is not uncommon. Summer ranges are not necessarily fall ranges and a deer that is highly visible in July may never show himself again until the next July. Just because you see a big buck on a certain field during the summer doesn’t mean he will still be in the area in the fall – or that he will still be moving openly.

      However, there is always a balance – another side to consider. I know of two other great bucks that remained within a few hundred yards of where friends of mine saw them all summer and those same friends eventually shot them in those same areas. The point of all this is simple: it is definitely valuable to scout during the summer, but you have to take what you see with a grain of salt.

Summer Patterns of Mature Bucks

      It is hard to know exactly what mature bucks do during the fall. For sure, they breed a few does and they must eat and sleep – but where? Even top research biologists still have many more questions than answers related to these deer. Part of the problem is their lack of visibility – they are very reclusive. And part of the problem is a lack of scientific tracking data for mature bucks – they are exceedingly hard to catch and collar.

      But, there is little question about what those same deer do during the summer – they feed openly and they feed heavily. Watch a few high-protein food sources, such as Imperial Whitetail Clover or Imperial Alfa-Rack, during the last hour of daylight for several evenings from mid-July through mid-August and you’ll see most of the mature bucks in your area. There is no other time of year when they are more visible.

      As bucks grow their antlers, consuming foods high in protein becomes their number- one priority. While all bucks will begin feeding on food sources high in protein as soon as these plantings green up in the spring, they are not commonly visible until mid-summer. I think this is a carry-over from the hunting pressure of the previous fall. It takes several months before they finally let their guards down. But when they do, they seem almost tame.

      Last summer, the local game warden told me about a giant typical that reportedly would score more than 200 inches that was putting on a nightly show for an appreciative crowd. The crowd, which seemed to grow larger each evening, watched from vehicles parked on the shoulder of a busy road as the buck fed nonchalantly 200 yards away. The warden made several twilight runs to the spot just to make sure everyone was behaving. By fall, the deer was a local legend. Of course, no one got him and to my knowledge, no one even saw him after he shed his velvet.

      As a side note, how would you like to have been hunting that deer only to drive past each evening to see the road blocked by gawking hunters? What a circus.

      Yet, such deer behavior is almost standard for mature bucks during the summer. Unless someone is actually threatening them in some way, possibly by getting too close, they are very relaxed. This gives you an opportunity to enjoy the best whitetail viewing of the entire year.

      After these bucks shed their velvet, they may or may not move to a different range. This is where it gets tricky. Bucks form into bachelor groups during the summer and seem to enjoy each other’s company. By the time their testosterone levels increase enough to initiate velvet shedding, they are beginning to look at each other with different eyes. They become a different animal. No longer do they enjoy each other’s company – especially mature bucks. In fact, they don’t even tolerate one another. A certain percentage of the summertime boy’s club has to leave or there will be war.

      From a physiological standpoint, this sudden mutual hatred may not be what causes late summer dispersal, but it is certainly a logical reason to know it occurs. A buck’s fall range may be the same nearly every year of his life, but it won’t necessarily be the same as his summer range.

      As mentioned before, you don’t really know where a mature buck will be after he disperses until you actually see him two weeks after velvet shedding. However, summer sightings do contain valuable information. Not all will leave, and knowing there are bucks somewhere in the general area that meet your standards for age or antler size provides fresh motivation to hunt hard.

      Also, if one of the mature bucks from the bachelor group does not disperse, knowing where he fed during the summer will help you determine the very best place to hang your stand on opening day. You have a very realistic chance of catching a mature buck still on his summer patterns if you hunt in states where the bow season opens in September.

       I have hunted in September in Montana and Alberta several times, and noticed that summer patterns hold up well until the bucks shed their velvet. Then there seems to be a period of time when everything gets mixed up before the bucks settle into their fall patterns. If you have the chance to hunt bucks in velvet, summer sightings are the very best form of scouting. If not, the summer work is fun and important, but should not be the basis for your entire season.

How to Scout During the Summer

      Traditional scouting: Beyond mid-spring, there is very little you can learn by walking the woods. Vegetation makes it tough to see the lay of the land and any buck sign from the previous fall, including most rubs, have grown over and have disappeared. It is also a time when ticks flourish in much of the whitetail’s range. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being covered with ticks.

      Then there is always the fun of climbing through poison oak vines to put up your stands. That experience will stay with you for a while, literally. It is probably obvious by now that I’m not a big fan of traditional scouting at this time. It is a poor use of your time. Long-range scouting with binoculars is a better choice.

      Observation: Almost everything valuable that you can learn during the summer you can learn from the small end of a spotting scope. Keep your distance and choose your vantage points carefully so you can exit the area at dusk. Watch the back corners of high- protein feeding areas and note any emerging patterns that might give you an edge come opening day.

      Close-range scouting: I shy away from any close-range contact with bucks during the summer because I don’t want to risk making them uncomfortable. But, I have several friends who love to film deer at this time. They put out ground blinds expressly for this purpose, and they have recorded some incredible close-up footage of all sorts of summer deer behavior. This form of scouting carries a high risk of further educating the deer – they are smart enough already.

      Though the bucks aren’t as sensitive to human-imposed dangers during the summer as they are during the fall, they are still mature deer, and being such, they won’t tolerate us if they know we are close at hand. You need to conduct close-range scouting with just as much caution as you would use when actually hunting the same spot during the fall. Specifically, you need to play the wind, pay close attention to your entry and exit routes and arrange a diversion to get out of the area at dusk if you are sitting close to the feeding area.

Conclusion

      Deer hunters commonly think that the rut is the best time to see the biggest bucks in their hunting areas. That is false. Without question, the best time to see the jaw-droppers is during the middle of the summer. And while seeing them in your hunting area during the summer is exciting, it is not necessarily where you will find them in October and November. Use the summer to find out what kind of bucks are in your area. It is like taking inventory. However, don’t get too hung up on any one of these bucks unless you also see them in the same area well after they shed their velvet.